Some of you may have picked up on the news that the Travel Advice for Indonesia has changed. For you own information and in case you are asked the following is an explanation of these changes. The important issue is the removal of "avoid all non-essential travel to Indonesia". However, this does not mean any reduction in the level of threat.

There is further explanation on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office web site www.fco.gov.uk under "News Wire" "Latest Headlines"
Explanatory Note on change to UK travel advice for Indonesia

After a worldwide review of Travel Advice, ordered by the Foreign Secretary in December 2003, the UK Government approach to travel advice has been changed. The Foreign Secretary announced these changes in his written statement to Parliament on 22 June 2004 (attached*). The main change is that "in the case of intelligence-based terrorist threats, HMG will advise against travel to a specific country only in situations of extreme and "imminent danger". In addition the language and phrases used in travel advice have been changed to make travel advice sharper and more user friendly.

Our travel advice for Indonesia has therefore changed In line with the worldwide changes, we have removed the reference to "avoid all non-essential travel to Indonesia". These changes should not be seen as downgrading the terrorist threat in Indonesia. The change is simply to be as open and descriptive as possible in order to allow British nationals to make an informed decision about whether to travel.

* no attachment was found in the Jakartass inbox.
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Please note too that the above supercedes the advice found on Google by typing British Embassy*Jakarta. This is "Version 18/2002 updated at 09.30 October 25 2002 and no. 2 in the Google list of 33,500 pages !!
(See my post of 28th May this year for further info about our concern for relevant info from H.M. Govt.)